Wheel.



PATBNTBD APR. 5, 1904.

LGARPENTBR.

f WHEBL. Y APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 19, 1903.

NO MODEL.

UNrrnn STATES 'Eatented Apri 5, 1904.

ATENT OFFICE.

WHEEL..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 756,472, dated April 5,1904. Application filed September 19, 1903. Serial No. 173,774. 4(Nomodel.)

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES OARPENTER,a citi- Zen of the United States,residing at No. 126 Hendrix avenue, borough of Brooklyn, city of NewYork, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Wheels, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to vehicle-wheels; and its object is to providevehicle-Wheels which shall be capable of supportinga vehicleresiliently, even though no body-springs be provided, and which,furthermore, shall increase the comfortableness of vehicles which areprovided with body-springs.

In many vehicles to which lthis invention may be applied there are nobody-springs4 such as, for instance, the class of vehicles comprisedunder the general head of LLvelocipedes. In such vehicles the inventionwill serve to reduce and in many cases eliminate the shocks which therider or occupants receive much more satisfactorily than the commonrubber tire. In other vehicles the improved wheels will serve to assistthe bodysprings in their function of taking up the jolts and jars towhich vehicles in use are subjected.

According te the present improvements resilient members or springs areprovided between the wheel rim and tire, and the present invention hasto do more particularly with the construction of such resilient membersor springs and with the tires and rims of the wheels upon which they areprovided, all of which will be more particularly described hereinafterwith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l 1s aview in elevation of a portion of a wheel containing the lmprovements, a

. portion of the same being broken away to show the resilient members orsprings in position. Eig. 2 is a view in section of the wheel rim andtire between which the resilient members or springs are placed, thesection being taken radially at the point where the two ends of a bandto which the springs are secured are fastened together. FigzB is asideelevation of one of the resilient members or springs, and Fig. 4: is asectional view of a tire which it is preferable to use in connectionwith the springs CZ are located, and resting partly with-1 in the hollowspace is the tire c, which is secured to the outer ends of the springsby bolts f. rIhe other ends of the springs rest against the felly e ofthe wheel, a band g being provided around the felly, to which thesprings are secured by means of rivets L. rIhe ends of this band arepreferably bent over and are secured together by suitable fastenings t',which iare preferably bolts, with right and left hand ed screws thereonfor convenience in manipulation, and the band is secured to the felly bybolts r, Fig. l. Each spring' is constructed of a flat piece ofresilient material, such as sheet-steel, the dimensions and character ofthe material from which the springs are constructed depending,preferably, upon the particular use for which the wheel is intended. Toform the spring, each strip is bent three times, as shown particularlyinv Fig. 3, thus forming a zigzag-shaped piece having three loops andone end of the spring projecting or being extended somewhat in advanceof the rest of the spring. The springs are all secured to the band g byfastening' their short ends thereto by any suitable means, beingsuitably distanced or separated from` each other, so that the loops orbended portions will not interfere or touch each other, but with theirextended ends overlapping. In this Way the extended end of one springrests upon the outer portion of oneof the adjacent springs and forms aneven surface for the tire to rest upon, the extended end of each springresting between the outer end of an adjacent spring and the tire.

Se far as the springs are concerned the tire TOO may be constructed fromany suitable material. It is preferable, however, that the portion ofthe tire adjacent. to the springs be of an unyielding or non-extensiblematerial, so that it will not stretch and become extended and therebywork -loose around the springs.

In accordancewth the invention, therefore, that portion of the tirewhich surrounds and binds the springs is constructed of a soft butnon-extensible material, such as duck or duck combined with rubberstrands, as is commonly used in the manufacture of belting, whereby thetire will retain its initial shape and length and will at all times bindthe springs tightly against the felly.

The bearing or outer surface of the tire may be of rubber or any othersuitable resilient material. In Fig. 4, in which such a tire isillustrated in section, the reference-letter m indicates the duck-'orinextensible portion thereof and the reference-letter n the rubber orbearingportion. This bearing or rubber portion fits withinl a groove orchannel in the portion m, being made smaller in circumference than thegroove and stretched into place therein, and may be easily removed andreplaced from time to time as it becomes worn or otherwise destroyed.Small spikes r are preferably inserted from the portion m into theportion n to hold the two portions from relative movement.

To secure the tire to the wheel, rivets are inserted through the springsand the tire. Furthermore, the tire is preferably provided withprojections-or notches Z upon its inner side, Fig. l, and against theseprojections the respective extensions of the springs rest. In this wayif the wheel is mounted to turn in the direction of the arrow in Fig. lthere can be no slipping or sliding backward of the tire upon thesprings.

In assembling the several parts which make up the rim of the wheelaccording to this invention the springs are first secured around theband g, which is then adjusted upon and secured around the felly of thewheel by tightening up on the right and left handed screws on the bolts.The springs are then compressed in any suitable manner, and the tire isslipped over the springs while still compressed. The springs afterwardbeing freed exert aradial thrust outwardly upon the tire, giving greatresiliency thereto. As soon as the tire has been thus placed upon thesprings and the springs freed the ring plates c are adjusted and securedupon each side of the wheelrim, as before described.

The action of the tire and springs when the wheel is in use will beobvious. The'tire,

4ing of thesprings as the wheel is rotated.

The construction of the springs is such that they will work evenly-thatis, in a radial direction only-and thus they do not bind upon orinterfere with each other. Furthermore, each spring having at leastthree loops therein, the extended portion of the springs, which overlapeach other, will not move or scrape upon each other to any substantialextent, and thus their action isnoiseless. The springs are constructedand assembled sothat they coperate to furnish an even and continuoussurface for the tire, whichA surface also yields easily and does notoffer more resistance to compression at certain points (points where thesprings come) than at other points.

I claim as my inventionl. In a wheel-rim, the combination of springsinterposed between the felly and the tire, each spring comprising astrip ofresilient materialbent into a zigzag form and having threeloops, one end of which is against the felly and the other end extendedso as to rest freely between the outer end of the next spring and thetire.

terial with its outer end extended and restingl freely between the outerend of the next spring and the tire.

3. In a wheel-rim, the combination of a band secured around the felly, aplurality of springs secured to the band, each spring comprising azigzag-shaped strip of resilient material having three loops and withits outer end extended so as to rest freely between the outer end of theadjacent spring and the tire.

4. In a wheel-rim, the combination of a tire with projections or notchestherein, a plurality of springs between said tire and the felly, eachspring comprising a zigzag-shaped strip of resilient material having itsouter end extended and engaging one of the notches or projections andresting upon the outer end of an adjacent spring.

This specification signed and witnessed this 17 th day of September, A.D. 1903.

' JAMES CARPENTER.

In presence of- JOHN M. SooBLE, M. TAYDON.

IOO

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